As the new Myanmar government—now with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi involved—pursues its reforms and hopes to improve its relationship with the West, a larger problem remains: the new Myanmar is still racked with its old Burma problems, so to speak.

At all cost, the Burmese military needs to maintain peace legitimately; it needs to support the civilian government, and not override it. For the alternative – renewed military crackdowns, political coups, the reversal of reforms – is possibly the grimmest yet.

It is the global community that needs to learn from Myanmar. Rather than attempting to wait out the gluttons of privilege, international sanctions ought to be relaxed to let the North Korean people eat and allow for some much needed foreign dollars to enter the country. And, maybe, with a little time, and a little help, North Koreans can have a Coke too.